Māori Party advances fight against tobacco

The passing of new smokefree legislation is another step toward the Māori Party’s plan to save more lives and advance its fight on the “peddlers of death.”

“Tobacco smoking kills more than 5000 New Zealanders a year. And it is one of the biggest killers of the Māori people, so we’re happy that another law, motivated by our lobbying of the Government, has been introduced to help combat the negative impact tobacco smoking is having on our nation,” said Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox.

The Smoke-free Environments (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Amendment Bill, which became law in Parliament last night, introduces a plain packaging regime for tobacco products in New Zealand.

“We need to do a lot more work to advance our fight against tobacco smoking but we are getting there – bit by bit, step by step. Today we are happy that we’ve been able to progress our goal of keeping the tobacco industry’s dressing up of their killer product out of sight.”

Ms Fox and Mr Flavell acknowledged the work of the new law’s sponsor, Associate Minister of Health Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.

“We thank the Minister for listening to our pleas. We appreciate the time and priority he has given to this issue.

“We also acknowledge the work of our previous co-leader Dame Tariana Turia who inspired these reforms.”